Survivor
by Tribi Ponyfeathers
Summary: "SAO. Sword Art Online. The best mistake of my life." That's what she told the reporter. And she's sticking to it. Follow Kat as she recounts her harrowing tales of the Floating Castle and her adventures within it. And the people who's lives she... Y'know, I ain't tellin' ya. You need to read it to find out for yourselves. LOLZ!
1. Chapter 1

Sword Art Online. The best mistake of my life. I am a beta tester, one of the people who got to test the game for the first time. I am Kat, IRL name Katherine Cheshire Long. I am an SAO survivor, doomed to forever haunt myself with the faces of those that died so i could live. I cannot say I was a front liner in the battle, but still. Ten people who had died wouldn't have, if that damn Rosalia had succeeded in finishing me off. If only my guildmates had let me go alone that day, if only that red player hadn't charged, if only I hadn't gone at all! There are so many 'if only's" in my head, I almost can't tell where they stop and where my mind begins.

* * *

When the beta test aired and I could go on, I immediately started running to the market. I got the thirteenth hard copy, which should have told me something was off. I had never before played in anything remotely similar, so this was really exciting for me.

* * *

I read all the instructions carefully.

* * *

Then I threw away the booklet and jammed the thing on my head.

And you know the rest.

.

.

.

Right?


	2. Chapter 2

Ok, I guess not

.

.

.

Once I got in the game, I ran straight to the fields shown in the map.

Y'know, to test out everything.

And, it turns out I'm really good at killing things with swords.

Who knew?

* * *

My character, not like it mattered, was short.

Shorter than most everybody.

And she had long pink hair.

And she was thin.

And had red eyes.

And fair skin.

I was practically the opposite.

* * *

I'm medium height.

Still kinda short.

I had short chopped purple-dyed hair.

I'm still kinda thin.

I have bright green eyes.

And I'm half Native American, half African American.

Which is wierd considering I'm in Japan.

My parents didn't really think that through when they moved here from America with baby me.

Whatever.

* * *

The ten names.

How do I live with them?

I don't honestly know.

But the whole point of this was to tell you my story.

So, let's begin.


	3. Chapter 3

About two weeks in, I met this group.

They were my friends.

Real world friends.

They had met up and formed a guild.

The Pegasi.

Because they were always flying high.

I joined.

* * *

Then, about three months in, Kylie died.

Killed herself.

None of us could understand it.

Kylie was the one girl, out of all of us, that was untouched by any sort of darkness.

She was our little sunshine girl.

* * *

John joined her later.

After we had disbanded.

I found out last.

John was like my big brother.

It was like a punch in the gut.

* * *

I fell into depression.

I wouldn't eat or sleep.

I couldn't.

And then I met Azra.

* * *

He moved into the flat next to mine.

And he came over one day.

And then he saw the state I was in.

And insisted I move in with him.

* * *

I did.

He took care of me.

He got me out.

For the time being.

* * *

Can we be done for the day?

I need some rest.


	4. Chapter 4

**_Sorry for the long wait, depression's a bitch. Just so you guys know, since there seems to be a bit of confusion, this is a series of chronological interviews my character is doing with a reporter. Also, cuz I'm trying to be more reader-centric, if you have a question you'd like to ask my character, than feel free to send me a review PM and I'll try to work it in. Kk? Good. On with the interviews!_**

* * *

Alrighty then, since you asked for an in depth version of my first guild, here it is: The full story of how me and my friends made our guild.

So, as you may or may not know, you can't create guilds until you're at least a level seven, so my friends, who had all found each other before I found them, had decided to form a guild ASAP. They were each between level 7 (Kylie) or level 14 (John). When I had found all of them I was a level 23, as I had been working as hard as I could so my friends, (who I knew had either gotten the game or were going to a couple weeks later to wait for the hype to go down) didn't have to worry. When I found all of them together, with no-one dead or missing, I was overjoyed. I immediately joined the guild, and we had gone on all sorts of adventures and things. Me, Kylie, Juniper, Dawn, Katherine, Logan, Carter, Eddie, and John; in case you were wondering. All nine of us could practically handle anything the game threw at us. We stayed like that for a really long time, exploring dungeons and generally forgetting that it wasn't just a game.

I hadn't noticed at the time, but Kylie was really starting to become weighed down. She was the smallest out of all of us, and it really showed during monster fights. She mostly focused on healing us, since she wasn't good at fighting, but if any of us had bothered to look, we would've seen how she just kinda... crumpled.

And then one day, she was just kinda... gone. John, who was living with her at the time, told us that morning that she hadn't been seen the night before. And she didn't show up to the guildhall in the morning. One of us, Juniper, I think, thought to check the deceased logs. And about halfway down we saw her name.

ThesKysTheLimit-Mode of Death-/Suicide off of NoName Bridge/

And once she read it, with shaking hands and an even shakier voice, John lost it.

He started shaking, wracking with sobs. And Katherine went over to him, hugging him gently and saying over and over to him that it's not your fault, it's not your fault until he seemed to calm down. He asked Juniper where the nearest edge was, he said it was to calm down, to see the sky, and so he went, alone, and he did come back, he said that maybe we should disband for a bit, to clear our heads and get away for a bit, and we all agreed. I sold the guildhall, Juniper, Dawn, and Katherine went to live in a town on the first level, and Logan, Carter, and Eddie moved to the highest level they could manage, to be near the front lines. From what I heard they all joined one of the guilds working up there. John and I stayed in the town we were in before, and life just kind of... happened. I moved in with John after about a week, and he seemed to get better. Then, when I was doing my habitual nightly check of the deceased logs to make sure none of my friends were on it, I- I saw...

Can, can we please stop for a bit, please? Thank you...

Oh god-


End file.
